The new way to see Europe – travelling via the ‘unbucket list’
I spent three days in Copenhagen and never saw the Little Mermaid, shivering on her little rock. I never saw the guard changing at the palace, or Tivoli Gardens amusement park, or a single museum exhibit.
This isn’t to dismiss the iconic sights of this lovely city; I’ve seen all those things on previous stays. But I’ve been visiting cities I’ve been to before in another way recently, by following an un-bucket list.
My plan is simple. Ignore the tourist sights. Pick a neighbourhood neither too dishevelled nor too wealthy: a Goldilocks district that provides insight into daily life and will perhaps offer a few pleasant surprises.
And so, in Copenhagen, I pick Frederiksberg. No kings or mermaids here, just ordinary Copenhageners, plus me pottering about without feeling pressured to see Important Things.
Frederiksberg is a great place to do nothing away from the ever-busier tourist city. This calm and elegant district is only a few metro stops west of central Copenhagen yet feels a world away.
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It has grand old homes and rose gardens, theatres and cultural venues, and wide boulevards with classic 19th-century architecture and green strips down the middle where children play on swings.
In short, if you want to enjoy attractive urban spaces, sit on park benches, join locals for lunch and vicariously imagine what it would be like to live in Copenhagen, this is a prime spot.
Frederiksberg is a confident district with its own character, sometimes described as bohemian – though not accurately if that suggests graffiti and dodgy bars.
This is Nordic bohemianism, which means middle-class people sit in cute cafes and bistros, lie on park lawns and jog while pushing prams. Frederiksberg’s cultural aspirations are a bit posh, but you can safely ignore its little theatres and museum devoted to Danish writers.
I did wander into Cisternerne, a subterranean former water reservoir turned striking art space, hidden under a hill in Sondermarken Park. But you don’t want to be underground for long in Frederiksberg, which is graced with abundant parks of un-Australian greenness and politely twittering birds.
From Sondermarken Park, I skirt Frederiksberg Palace, onetime royal summer residence but – phew – seldom open for visits. The gardens though have been open to the public since 1852. And there the public still is, picnicking on lawns, strolling around lakes, and being ogled by elephants in the adjacent zoo.
I spend a happy hour here: Copenhagen at its most delightful. Then I walk past a statue of Frederik VI – thanks, mate, for your green space – and cross the street where I spot a church, thundering with the music of an organist at practice.
Right behind it, I discover the world’s most beautiful cemetery, Frederiksberg Aeldre. Lovely trees, clipped hedges, gorgeous flowerbeds, polished tombstones framed in more flowers: it would almost be worth dropping dead in Copenhagen to end up here.
The cemetery is at the top of Frederiksberg Allé, one of the city’s most gracious streets. If you stroll down it, pause for a rest on a bench in Sankt Thomas Plads, or join residents for a cafe brunch, although Danish brunches – rye bread, thinly sliced cheese, boiled eggs – are austere. But that’s real life, isn’t it? Better than a full English tourist brunch downtown.
That’s how my days pass in Copenhagen, mooching about, walking nice streets, being nosey, admiring the Scandinavian chic of independent boutiques along Værnedamsvej.
I find another public park (Haveselskabets) and a horticultural garden (Landbohojskolens) where locals stare at apple trees. So I stare at apple trees, too, and at passing Danes, and imagine being a Dane myself.
And if anyone asks me what I did in Copenhagen, I’ll have to say I did nothing much at all, but I’ve never had a better time.
THE DETAILS
Fly
Turkish Airlines flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Copenhagen via Istanbul. See turkishairlines.com
Stay
Hotel Ottilia in a converted factory close to Sondermarken Park features industrial chic, stylish Nordic furniture, a great rooftop restaurant and very welcoming staff. Rooms from DKK 1266 ($305) a night. See brochner-hotels.com
The writer stayed as a guest of Wonderful Copenhagen.
Brian Johnston seemed destined to become a travel writer: he is an Irishman born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland, who has lived in Britain and China and now calls Australia home.